Also contained in the new immigration law is a provision for immigrant visas under a three year temporary program variously called the visa lottery, diversity transition, or the adversely affected program, Visas will be available through this program in fiscal years 1992 (beginning October 1, 1991), 1993 (October 1992) and 1994 (October 1993). Congress has allocated 40,000 of these visas per year but 16,000 each years are reserved for persons from Ireland), The visas will be available to persons from 35 countries which were “adversely affected” by earlier legislation (i.e., which generally have had low rates of immigration since 1965).

Among the 3 5 countries are France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, and Poland. Applicants for visas will be registered through the mail. The first 50,000 applications to be received by the State Department will be invited to apply for immigrant visas. At the time of visa application, candidates must prove they have a firm offer of employment in the U.S. for least one year after admission to the U.S. under the program. A labor confiscation is not required, nor are there any educational qualifications.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 29, 1991